20 THE SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN QUESTION
Natal presents the ourious spectacle of a country entertaining a supreme contempt for the very class of people she can least da without, Imagination oan only picture the commercial paralysis which would inevitably attend the withdrawal of the Indian popu- lation from that Colony. And yet the Indian is the most despised of creatures, he may not ride in the tram-oars, nor sit in the earns compartment of a railway carriage with the Europeans, hotel- keepers refuse him food or shelter and he is denied the privilege of the public bath !
Hera is the opinion of an Anglo-Indian, Mr* Drum- mond who is intimately connected with the Indians in Natal. He says, writing to the Natal Mercury :
The majority of the people here* seem to forget that they are British subjects, that their Maharani is our Queen and for that reason alone one would think that they might be spared the oppro- brious term of ' coolie, ' as it is here applied, In India it is only the lower class of white men who calls native a ' nigger ' and treats him as if he were unworthy of any consideration or respect. ID their eyes, as in the eyes of many in this colony, he is treated
eitber as a heavy burden or a mechanical machine ,.. It is a
common thing and a lamentable thing to hear the ignorant and the unenlightened speak of the Indian generally as the sou in of the earth, etc. It is depreciation frcm the white man and not appreciation that they get.
I think I have adduced sufficient outside testimony to substantiate my statement that the railway officials treat the Indians as beasts. On the tramoars, the Indians are often nob allowed to sit inside but are senb upstairs/ as the phrase goes. They are often made to remove from one seat to another or prevented from occu- pying front benches. I know an Indian officer, a Tamil gentleman, dressed in the*iatesb European style who was made to stand on the tram-car board although there was aooomodation available for him.
Quoting statistics to prove the prosperity of the Indian community Is quite unnecessary, It is not denied that the Indians who go to Natal do earn a living and that in spite of the persecution.
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